Forums O' Fun

CaseyHaterz.com is a cool new community started by long-time Casey Serin 'hater' The Dude.

The site is mere days old, having launched on the auspicious date of 7/7/07. Yet in three days, the CaseyHaterz forum already boasts over six hundred registered members. The Dude has confessed that he's been a bit astounded by the turnout. Here's what he has to say about the community:

Anyone who's followed the Casey Saga knows, Casey himself labeled anyone who doesn't support his activities a Hater and nothing could be further from the truth. Haterz don't hate Casey, they disapprove of his actions towards his creditors and his family. He meant the term as an insult, but we elevated it to a badge of honor; standing up for what is right.

Casey tries to blame everyone else for his problems, but the fact remains, he and he alone is responsible for any issues he's facing.

Supporterz and Haterz alike are welcome here. We value all points of view and differing opinions. To join the conversation, you must first register an account. Follow the instructions, return, login, and join the conversation.

As The Dude implements new software changes, CaseyHaterz may have been inaccessible for a couple of hours today. If you, like me, are already a registered user and having trouble getting back into the system since the changeover, try the following:

1. Click here to be taken to the CaseyHaterz main page.

2. In the upper right-hand corner, look for the Log In link.

3. For me, my user name and password didn't work. If you're having the same problem, click "Have you forgotten your login information?"

4. This will prompt you for your user name and email address.

5. Within seconds, you should receive an email from CaseyHaterz with the subject line "Request for Password." If you do not see a response immediately, check your spam and bulk folders.

6. Use the temporary password with your already-existing user name to log in.

7. You will most likely have to upload your avatar again.

Good luck and happy snarking!

More From Dustin Haywood

I said yesterday that Dustin Haywood, previously referred to as “Rich Dad’s Son” at “I Am Facing Foreclosure,” is perhaps the antithesis of Casey Serin. While the two are close friends, Dustin has followed a far different path than Casey Serin.

Of course, I didn't know that at first. And in one of our early emails, my fraud meter went off when Dustin Haywood mentioned that he had sold a significant quantity of homes over the past several years. Considering that he would have to be about the same age as Casey Serin (24, give or take) this is a remarkable accomplishment no matter who you are. Unfortunately, in the context of the Casey Serin story, it is also suspect. I had to ask:

Aspeth: When you say that you’ve sold 45 homes, I’m curious as to what exactly that means. Were they homes you sold for someone else? Flippers? FSBO’s? Doesn’t the California Department of Real Estate require that someone who sells over (x?) number of homes in a year be licensed? Are you licensed?

Dustin Haywood: My father is licensed, I am not. I might get a license in the future, but at this point my activities don't require a license. I spend most of my time generating leads, overseeing the work of our independent contractors, handle tech support around the office, monitor escrows, and a variety of other responsibilities that go into running a business of this nature.


Frankly, since I’d already looked for a DRE license for Dustin, I was happy to get a straight answer from him. (Sorry, Dustin. I’ll admit that I wasn’t yet giving you a lot of credit at that point.) In my defense, who knew that it was possible to get a direct and honest answer in Caseyworld?

Going back to Dustin Haywood’s first appearance at “I Am Facing Foreclosure,” he certainly came across as a huge cheerleader. Casey announced that he was going to work at the “Local Rich Dad” office and the crowd went wild. Everyone smelled another get-rich-quick scam or guru action. Dustin came on to explain some things further:

39. Dustin A.K.A. Rich Dad's son
October 22nd, 2006 at 8:50 pm

Hey, I’m the dorky looking guy in the picture in front of the car. Although I have been following this blog since it started to get really interesting about a month or two ago, this is my first comment as I really haven’t had anything to say that hadn’t already been said over and over again by all of the armchair life coaches out there. Now that Casey has moved into our office I think it is appropriate to add some context to Casey’s story and also answer some of the skeptics out there.

Our Motivation

Yes, part of the reason why we are helping Casey help himself out of his mess is because we think other people might appreciate the opportunity to get a “hands on” Real Estate investing education from us at some point. As a reader of Casey’s blog you’ll actually be able to see how Casey’s thinking and real estate knowledge evolves over time and hopefully reaches the level of sophistication required to be successful in this business. We’re not going to muck up Casey’s blog with our BS, even if we wanted to Casey has too much integrity to allow us to do such a thing.

Another major motivation behind our alliance with Casey was his IT skill set that we are starting to desperately need to keep up with the times. Casey has agreed to help bring us up to date in this department over time.

Rich Dad or Cheap Dad?

Whatever Casey or you the reader wants to call him, it’s fine by us. My father is happy to help Casey with or without the attention from this blog. I’m sure his idenity will be revealed in time but he’s not quite willing to out himself quite yet.

The Cheap Dad comment isn’t accurate at all; he’s probably the most generous man I know. We didn’t give Casey a job for a reason: We have exactly ZERO employees and we’d like to keep it that way for now. Everyone is on commission or is contracted out as needed. If I can’t pick up a check every two weeks from my dad, Casey can’t either.

I’ll stop here for now. I’d like everyone who feels like they need to give Casey a hard time to lighten up a little about it, maybe even have a sense of humor about, we certainly do. He’s made some serious blunders this year and has gotten himself in more trouble then most of us will ever face, what kind of person would think it is appropriate to kick a man when he’s down?

Anyway, this blog will continue to be Casey’s creation, not mine. If I have anything to say I’m happy to do it here like everyone else. I think you’ll enjoy the content a whole lot more now that we’re in the picture. I honestly hope everything works out for the best, try to remember: The future has yet to be written, anything could happen at this point and your guess is as good as mine, but if you want my opinion I think this is shaping up to be a great come back story already.

Now before everyone freaks out, please remember that this was in October of last year. Casey Serin had yet to demonstrate a lot of his more unlikable qualities. He hadn’t yet been foreclosed upon multiple times, and he certainly hadn’t fled the country, leaving his wife to answer creditors’ phone calls. I truly believe that Dustin Haywood and his father were (and still are) sincere in wanting to help Casey Serin get back on track.

Aspeth: You and Casey Serin are approximately the same age, yet you have sold 45 homes while he has lost six houses to foreclosure. How did you and Casey approach the same industry with such drastically different results? I ask because that creates such a glaring contrast between the two of you, and puts you in a unique position to talk about the path that you observed him traveling.

Dustin Haywood: Well, when I met Casey in 9th grade, my father was essentially "set for life" financially. He knew the story of my father's success and I'm sure admired the freedom he had. Casey was a pretty sharp guy in high school, he got good grades, graduated a semester early, and as far as I can recall, kept his nose clean. He was able to teach himself a variety of computer and internet skill sets during this time and found decent paying IT work easily right out of high school. At one point, he even helped me get one of my first jobs at a Geek Squad type company that never made it off the ground.

As far as how the two of us approached the industry. I'll start with myself because I got into the business quite a few years before he did. Growing up I never intended to work for my father, I didn't even think it was even an option. In fact, when I graduated high school and started college, he was not actively investing in real estate.

During the year or two I attended college he attempted to start up some of his real estate investing techniques, but those efforts never led anywhere, as he tells it, he just didn't have the same drive to put in all the effort required to get the operation off the ground. Later that year, I was getting tired of college and was anxious to get my career started.

Without knowing if we would have any success, I offered to help my father with all of the tedious aspects of real estate investing in exchange for a percentage of any profit we made, and to my surprise he took me up on my offer. It took nearly 6 months to find our first "deal", meaning your typical fix n flip. Most of our buying and selling activity was between the summer of 2002 and early 2006. We saw the crash coming and got out when we could. We're currently in "buy and hold" mode and probably will be for quite some time. We see some great buying opportunities on the horizon.

In contrast, Casey decided to go it alone. He didn't have a mentor to teach him so he went to a lot of seminars and bought a lot of crap from gurus I explicitly warned him against. He even called me one time while he was attending a seminar to see if he could borrow $50,000 from me for some advanced seminar they were offering for some limited time of course. For the record, I told him no.

The biggest problem he had was that he was literally buying all of his "deals" at the top of the market. His second biggest problem, regardless of what the market was doing, was that he was overpaying, they were at best marginal "deals". He of course went on to make all of the other typical mistakes new investors tend to make, i.e. buying out of state, overpaying contractors, buying too many at once, etc...


Dustin mentioned in an early email to me that “Whatever you have said about Casey, I've said far worse to Casey's face.” I remembered a comment that Dustin left Casey at IAFF. I considered his remarks in November of 2006, and thought it important to include:

101. Rich Dad's Son
November 27th, 2006 at 3:49 pm

Come on Casey; If you’re turning to crap like “The Secret” for answers, you are barking up the wrong tree… again. There is no secret, no magic bullet, and no magic genie that will lead you to happiness and success.

You should be beyond the the Tony Robbins positive thinking stuff by now. (Besides, I think all that positive thinking might have hurt you more than it helped, but that’s just my take) Time to hunker down and do some real personal development. Check out “The Teaching Company” (teach12.com) - Maybe start with some of their economics lectures and go from there. (Science, Philosophy, History etc…)

Good luck, keep fighting, it’s not over yet!

Coming from anyone else, that would quickly be dubbed Haterz talk. So I wanted to ask Dustin what he thought of the term.

Aspeth: On a lighter note.... Casey has called his critics "haterz." The haterz have then called Casey's circle "supporterz" and "cheerleaderz." Do you think either of these labels apply to you?

Dustin Haywood: Funny, you mentioned this. I was probably the original "hater" in the sense that I was highly critical of the path he was taking during the early days of his real estate career. One night he called me asking for $50,000 dollars to purchase some "advanced" real estate seminar. You can imagine my reaction!

As for the actual term "hater" I may have been the one to use that phrase first during a early conversation regarding the comments section. I can't be sure, and it doesn't even really matter, but I've enjoyed using common slang around Casey because he originally spoke English as a second language and is quick to use and misuse his newly expanded vocabulary.

Am I still a Hater today? Probably so, but I still can't help but root for the underdog.


There’s more to this story, but this is already a long post, and there are still some holes that need to be plugged before I can continue. I appreciate your patience while I wait for Dustin’s response, and just want to remind everyone that he’s a successful entrepreneur who’s working his tail off. He hasn't gone all "pro blogger" on us, so he's not necessarily able to answer questions straight away.

Meet "Rich Dad's Son"

Casey Serin's distorted half-truths and outright lies have many people coming forward to tell their side of the Casey Serin / "I Am Facing Foreclosure" events. Dustin Haywood, often referred to as "Rich Dad's Son" at IAFF, is one of those people.

Early readers of "I Am Facing Foreclosure" will recall that "Rich Dad" and "Rich Dad's Son" came into the picture in late October of 2006. The premise was that a high school friend's father was a successful real estate investor and had offered Casey Serin the opportunity to work alongside successful entrepreneurs and hopefully learn the fundamentals of business from them.

Casey Serin was to provide some technical support to the business and in return was given free office space. Casey took to calling the would-be mentor his "Rich Dad," after the Robert Kiyosaki book. His high school friend became, by extension, "Rich Dad's Son."

Around the beginning of June, I got an email from Dustin Haywood.

Aspeth,

Hi, I'm the character known on Serin's blog as Rich Dad's son.

I like your take on the whole deal and I was wondering if your readers were interested in hearing from me?

Maybe I could help flush the story out for historical posterity as I have had a small yet influential role in all of this.

I haven't had the time to keep up with his blog as much as you and most of the regular readers/posters have, so there will be many things I can not comment on. I also have only seen or spoken to Casey a handful of times since he moved out of my office early this year. I can speak to how Casey and I met and became friends, what Casey was like in school, what renting a room out to Casey was like, how and why we grew apart, exactly how and why I helped him.

Don't expect a lot of venom from me, I still consider Casey a friend and I hope things work out for him.

Just so you know, you are the first and only blogger I have attempted to contact about this. If there is any interest, please let me know.

Me being me, I was naturally cynical and decided to ask a few questions. After all, I've never sugar-coated my belief that Casey Serin is a criminal and should be incarcerated for his crimes. As a friend of the fraudster's, particularly one whose father had played a guru role to Casey (according to Casey Serin, that is) why would he want to make nice with me?

Here's how the conversation with Dustin Haywood started out:

Aspeth: Thanks for the note. To answer your question, yes, I'm sure people would like to hear from you. My question for you is, why do you want to fill in your side of it? Why now?

Dustin Haywood: I noticed just the other day that my identity, along with my fathers had been revealed on Caseypedia and I'm sure elsewhere now as well. Now that we are "out of the closet" sort of speak, I'd like the opportunity to tell our side of the story now that our name is attached to it. I also understand a great deal of people find entertainment value in Casey's saga (I know I have), and I would like to reciprocate some of the enjoyment I've received from the community. I'm also a real estate insider, having bought and sold over 45 homes in the Sacramento area since I got started in this business 6 years ago, not to mention having the opportunity to closely observe my father grow his business during the last bear real estate market of the '90s. In that regard, I might be able to answer real estate related questions as well.

Aspeth: I'm glad you like my blog, but I'm sure that you've read some of my more unkind posts about Casey. So, while I would never expect you to adopt a similar tone, I'm curious why you would want to go through me.

Dustin Haywood: Whatever you have said about Casey, I've said far worse to Casey's face. Casey knows how I feel about his actions, but I see this period of his life as a dark time that many people face at some point in their life but eventually passes. The only difference is that Casey is allowing people to watch and participate on a grand level. I'm sure if he ends up going to prison, living in exile, or somehow pulling through, he'll be a better person because of it. The pressure he's been under the last 6-12 months is an unimaginable burden that has led him to make a lot of bad decisions and hurt of a lot of people around him. I know Casey, he's a well meaning person and a good friend, if anything he's a dupe and a patsy, not a criminal mastermind. Hard to hate someone you pity.

I wanted to go through you because of your intellectual appeal. I share many of your interests and appreciate your sense of humor. As far as your tone, I wouldn't be writing you if I thought it was over the top, you have every right for moral condemnation, as do all the so called "Haterz", but you go a step farther and try to determine what makes Casey tick. That's why I've come to you! I think once people understand what drives Casey, they will be better able to understand his behavior, and perhaps in a way their own. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can think of no better blog then yours to help further that discussion in a meaningful way.

Aspeth: If you've followed the goings-on with other former associates that have come out to tell their version of events, the response from the so-called "haterz" has been overwhelmingly positive.

Dustin Haywood: I have pretty thick skin, but the haterz really don't have a legitimate reason to hate me. I did what any decent person would do by extending some help to a friend in need. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't being completely altruistic as I was also betting my time and money that Casey would bring value to our business sometime down the road. Casey didn't rise to the challenge to put forth the effort necessary to make money for our business, thus he received nothing besides a free office for a couple months, as well as advice and direction, similar to the kind the "haterz" have been espousing and Casey has been rejecting.

Aspeth: There are probably details and minutiae that people will want to know more about. You might not be comfortable with some of those questions, particularly if they relate back to your father’s business.

Dustin Haywood: I'll be happy to answer intelligent well meaning questions about myself and my part in this story. My father is the most ethical, well meaning, squeaky clean person I've ever met, so he has little if anything to hide. If there’s any question about his privacy, I’ll run it past him first.

And since my name is now public, we can use my name. I always thought the Rich Dad moniker was kind of cheesy anyway.


I’ve been corresponding with Dustin for the better part of the past month. My impression of him is that he’s intelligent, well-spoken, and incredibly level-headed. He has responded to every question I’ve asked him in a deliberate and thoughtful manner, sometimes incorporating topics that I wouldn’t necessarily have considered germane.

But in Dustin’s telling, we see a more rounded view of Casey Serin. I don’t know that anyone’s opinion will change from reading Dustin’s take, but it’s a chance to see Casey through the eyes of a close friend—one who obviously still cares a great deal about him, and wants him to succeed.

I do think the ‘haterz’ will have a newfound appreciation for the nebulous character known as “Rich Dad’s Son.” He’s not a character, not a scammer, not part of some wannabe guru family. He is, in my opinion, a hard working, bright person who provides a sharp contrast to the ideals and implementation of Casey Serin.

An Inside Joke...

So, when you listened to Casey Serin's most recent Friday Night Fraudcast?

Did you feel like you were going crazy?

You know?....Particularly when the woman with the question voice?

Just wouldn't stop talking?

You know the one?

Every sentence that came out of her mouth went up at the end?

So instead of making statements, she was asking questions?

And then she tried to talk Casey out of committing suicide?

Because she's had a lot of tragedy in her life?

And, you know, Casey Serin has never alluded to suicide?

But that didn't stop her?

And so, maybe you, like me, felt like YOU wanted to commit suicide?

Were thinking about the practicalities of balancing a shotgun in your mouth and pulling the trigger with your big toe?

Because this fucking person wouldn't shut the hell up?

And while you understood that she was delivering an anti-suicide speech, she was actually succeeding in advocating FOR suicide?

Because the longer she talked?

The more you were convinced you didn't want to live?

And you never knew it was possible to have a more annoying voice than Casey Serin?

But you found someone who did?

And you hope she never procreates?

And so on?

And so on?

And so on?

Oh, and did I mention?

I just say that because....?

Well, I once had a friend of a friend's hairdresser?

And her great-aunt once....?

And even though you've been lulled into some sort of hypnotic stupor?

You still want to blow your own head off in order to make her voice stop?


It's moments like this that makes me question why the Catholics can't understand that THIS is purgatory.....

On a completely different topic, someone who's been referred to as one of Casey Serin's supporterz is coming out of the woodwork.

More soon...

Casey Serin, Sociopath

This is my response to the question "What's Wrong With This Picture?" Casey Serin's cycle of deflection and manipulation has continually reminded me of something I've seen before. And after looking into it a bit further, I'm convinced that Casey Serin is a sociopath.

Sociopaths are the individuals with Antisocial Personality Disorder. In her book, The Sociopath Next Door, author Martha Stout points out that "We are accustomed to think of sociopaths as violent criminals, but...the chief symptom is that that person possesses no conscience. He or she has no ability whatsoever to feel shame, guilt, or remorse....they can do literally anything at all and feel absolutely no guilt."

The author includes a checklist of sorts to identify a sociopath in your midst. "The 6-7 tell-tale signs of the typical sociopath--the irresponsibility, a lack of social-conscience, the inability to accept blame ("Because I didn't know what to do at the time..."), a delusional and overinflated opinion of oneself, ("After me, no one will want you...") attitude, the need to dominate, inability to compromise, the continuous need of affirmation from others, the habitual lying and covering up, and, of course, the complete and utter lack of remorse."

Anyone who's read Casey Serin's "I Am Facing Foreclosure" story will recognize many of these traits. So what are the exact characteristics of a sociopath? A basic overview of Antisocial Personality Disorder shows that:

"The symptoms of antisocial personality disorder include a longstanding pattern of disregard for the rights of others. There is a failure to conform to society's norms and expectations that often results in numerous arrests or legal involvement as well as a history of deceitfulness where the individual attempts to con people or use trickery for personal profit. Impulsiveness if often present, including angry outbursts, failure to consider consequences of behaviors, irritability, and/or physical assaults.

Some argue that a major component of this disorder is the reduced ability to feel empathy for other people. This inability to see the hurts, concerns, and other feelings of people often results in a disregard for these aspects of human interaction. Finally, irresponsible behavior often accompanies this disorder as well as a lack of remorse for wrongdoings.

It is important to note that, in order for a conclusive diagnosis of APD, some or all of these traits must be apparent in adolescence. And from Casey Serin's first online Ponzi scheme at the age of 14, we see that the handwriting has been on the wall for over a decade.

This profile of a sociopath offers a clear picture of the sociopath in his daily life:

-Glibness and Superficial Charm.

-Manipulative and Conning.

-They never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. They appear to be charming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim as merely an instrument to be used. They may dominate and humiliate their victims.

-Grandiose Sense of Self. Feels entitled to certain things as "their right."

-Pathological Lying. Has no problem lying coolly and easily and it is almost impossible for them to be truthful on a consistent basis. Can create, and get caught up in, a complex belief about their own powers and abilities. Extremely convincing and even able to pass lie detector tests.

-Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt.

-A deep seated rage, which is split off and repressed, is at their core. Does not see others around them as people, but only as targets and opportunities. Instead of friends, they have victims and accomplices who end up as victims. The end always justifies the means and they let nothing stand in their way.

-Shallow Emotions. When they show what seems to be warmth, joy, love and compassion it is more feigned than experienced and serves an ulterior motive. Outraged by insignificant matters, yet remaining unmoved and cold by what would upset a normal person. Since they are not genuine, neither are their promises.

-Incapacity for Love.

-Need for Stimulation. Living on the edge. Verbal outbursts and physical punishments are normal. Promiscuity and gambling are common.

-Unable to empathize with the pain of their victims, having only contempt for others' feelings of distress and readily taking advantage of them.

-Poor Behavioral Controls/Impulsive Nature.

-Early Behavior Problems/Juvenile Delinquency.

-Usually has a history of behavioral and academic difficulties, yet "gets by" by conning others. Problems in making and keeping friends; aberrant behaviors such as cruelty to people or animals, stealing, etc.

-Irresponsibility/Unreliability. Not concerned about wrecking others' lives and dreams. Oblivious or indifferent to the devastation they cause. Does not accept blame themselves, but blames others, even for acts they obviously committed.

-Lack of Realistic Life Plan/Parasitic Lifestyle. Tends to move around a lot or makes all encompassing promises for the future, poor work ethic but exploits others effectively.

-Criminal or Entrepreneurial Versatility. Changes their image as needed to avoid prosecution. Changes life story readily.

Other Related Qualities:

-Contemptuous of those who seek to understand them

-Does not perceive that anything is wrong with them

-Authoritarian

-Secretive

-Paranoid

-Only rarely in difficulty with the law, but seeks out situations where their tyrannical behavior will be tolerated, condoned, or admired

-Conventional appearance

-Goal of enslavement of their victim(s)

-Exercises despotic control over every aspect of the victim's life

-Has an emotional need to justify their crimes and therefore needs their victim's affirmation (respect, gratitude and love)

-Ultimate goal is the creation of a willing victim

-Incapable of real human attachment to another

-Unable to feel remorse or guilt

-Extreme narcissism and grandiose

-May state readily that their goal is to rule the world

In regard to their work habits, sociopaths typically do not work. When they do, they are frequently absent or may quit suddenly. They will do this without regard to others' wishes or welfare. They often lie, both to gain personal pleasure and for profit.

Sociopaths may default on loans, fail to provide for their families, engage in high risk sexual behavior. Impulsiveness, failure to plan ahead, aggressiveness, irritability, irresponsibility, and a reckless disregard for their own safety and the safety of others are common traits of the antisocial personality.

For the untold dozens of people who have been trying to help Casey Serin, I'm sorry to tell you that it really is all for naught. Because one of the underlying traits of sociopaths is their delusion that they are better than everyone else, they are incredibly difficult to treat.

"Treatment for this disorder is very rarely sought. There is a limited amount of insight into the symptoms, and the negative consequences are often blamed on society. In this sense, treatment options are limited. Some research has found long term insight oriented therapy to be effective, but getting the individual to commit to this treatment is a major obstacle.

Prognosis is not very good because of two contributing factors. First, because the disorder is characterized by a failure to conform to society's norms, people with this disorder are often incarcerated because of criminal behavior. Secondly, a lack of insight into the disorder is very common. People with antisocial personality disorder typically see the world as having the problems, not him or herself, and therefore rarely seek treatment. If progress is made, it is typically over an extended period of time."

Additionally, this inability to form emotional attachments or bonds with others prevent people like Casey Serin from feeling any shame, guilt, or remorse. This is dangerous because these are the typical filters that prevent most human beings from engaging in actions that will damage those around them.

For those who have repeatedly stated that Casey Serin's critics are too harsh, the reality is that he will only stop this cycle of manipulation, confidence scams, theft, deception and other criminal activity when he is forced to stop. And this means prison. Casey Serin's behavior shows that he is unable or unwilling to stop himself from inflicting harm on his friends, family, or community.

Casey Serin needs to be removed from the population in order to be stopped from engaging in his sociopathic tendencies. If left to his own devices, even with the help and support of those around him, he will only continue to repeat these behaviors, convinced that he is entitled to do so.

Anyone else having an "aha" moment?

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Something has been bothering me...

In reading or listening to Casey Serin interact with his audience, the conversation always follows a certain, telling, pattern. First, Casey Serin adopts a jovial approach to offset abject criticism. The most recent Foreclosure Friday Fraudcast offers as good an example as any.

"ENDGAME
Yeah, if you were my brother I would kick your mother-f*cking ass when you came home.

CASEY
Oh. (laughing weakly) Really? You know what? They might be waiting for me, they might be with, you know, who knows what, so... we'll see."

When asked something he doesn't want to answer, he goes into a repetitive cycle of mirror questioning. This line of questioning is meant to both diffuse and distract the other party. In many cases, it is an attempt to get the other person to talk about themselves rather than Casey Serin:

"SIXFIGUREW2LOOSER
Because it's not real entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is creating a product or service of genuine value that... is a new invention, is a new, is truly a new way of doing business. Something that nobody thought of before. You know, going out and taking all these loans out, and with the intent of flipping it on the ever-escalating rise of home prices: that is not based in reality, not based in income, it is pure speculation. It just creates damage and harm for people, like me, who -- for Christ's sake Casey, I make over six figures, all right? Full benefits, everything. And I can't even--

CASEY
Yeah. You're set up nice, huh?

SIXFIGUREW2LOOSER
Yeah, I am. And you wanna know why? Because I worked hard--

CASEY
Sweet cashflow coming in. Yeah.

SIXFIGUREW2LOOSER
Uh? Yeah, it's cashflow coming in, because it's money deposited to my account every two weeks.

CASEY
Doing good, yeah."

Casey Serin also utilizes half-right reflexives, a form of questioning where one posits a half-truth in the form of a question in order to get the other party to agree. Take, for example, this back-and-forth.

"HEYCASEY
But you can receive international calls on it [the prepaid Australian cell], so why don't you write CashCall an email and say "hey, what's up, why don't you try to figure out what's going on, obviously I'm making some sweet income on my ads on my blog right now, so why don't you just garnish my wages?" but, I don't know. Plus, by the way--

CASEY
(speaking over HeyCasey) That's a good point, that's a good point, can't keep hiding under the rocks for too long, is that what you're saying?....

HEYCASEY
Exactly, you need to file personal gains tax, which I'm sure you haven't done in a year or so.

CASEY
Yeah man, sweet! Yeah, I mean, the tax, you gotta pay that sweet tax, I mean, the IRS doesn't mess around, right?"

When backed into a corner, Casey Serin tends to drop his voice to create a false intimacy. This empathetic air is an attempt to diffuse the topic at hand, which I'm sure the Serin family has seen time and time again when Casey is painted into a corner. When Annie called in with some very pointed questions, this is how Casey Serin answered:

"ANNIE
Okay. Now, do you feel comfortable-- I can't imagine anybody freeloading like you do, and asking people to pay your way, because that's, you've been asking people, "buy me a ticket", "let me visit your house", you know, "pay for this", "pay for that". At the same time, you're saying that you made two thousand dollars last week, you sent one thousand dollars home just now, so you're making money, why are you freeloading?

CASEY
Okay. And then, that kinda angers you right? Why does that anger you?"

See what happens there? We've seen this a lot over the past ten months, when he flips something back on the other party--this isn't about me, this is about you. Let's talk about you. After all, everyone loves to talk about themselves.

Casey Serin continues his mirror questions, hoping to throw Annie off topic:

"ANNIE
Okay, so it was okay with them. So, you leave on a Wednesday to go to Australia. Two days later it's Friday. Did you have a thousand dollars on the table at home?

CASEY
Uh, what was that? Are you asking about the timing? When it all happened, or...?

ANNIE
No, no, no! I'm being very clear, I'm being extremely clear. You left to go to Australia on a Wednesday, right?

CASEY
Um, I think so. Is that what it was?"

Yet when Annie doesn't let it go, Casey shifts into victim mode:

"ANNIE
But you said last week you made two thousand dollars! So, last week, where's the two thousand dollars from last week?

CASEY
Well yeah, I made two thousand dollars, to transfer it, it takes two business days for it to transfer, I mean, that's all process. So, are we splitting hairs here? (ignores Annie's vehement 'No.') You're trying to put me in a corner like that guy on Triple J did."

When Annie still doesn't take the bait, Casey Serin becomes contemptuous and his demeanor shifts to a sense of "you're such a peon you could never understand such complex doings." See for yourself:

"ANNIE
No, I'm not putting you in a corner, I'm asking you a very simple question, and the question is, last week--

CASEY
(interjects) Of course, very simple to you!

ANNIE
(continues) You made two thousand dollars, and then, where, what day did you put that money in the bank? What day did the money clear? And then, what--

CASEY
(interrupts, exasperated) Annie, what am I gonna do, give an accounting of every minute and every little dollar I spent? I mean, come on. I'm telling you what I did, you don't believe me, you're trying to trip me up somehow, what's the point of this?

ANNIE
I'm not trying to trip you up--

CASEY
(irritated) Honestly, honestly, you don't believe me! You wouldn't continue asking me if you believed me. You simply don't believe me, which is fine, just say it like that.

ANNIE
Well I don't believe you! And how can anybody believe you? (forges on despite Casey's 'There you go!') You're not giving me or anybody else a straight answer. If you want us to believe you, then you've got to say something that's useful.

CASEY
Well look, look, I'm not looking at everything, all the figures in front of me right now, I'm telling you what I did. I don't have the exact hours, and minutes, and dollar figures in front of me right now. So I'm telling you what was done, you don't believe me because you think I'm lying, or this and that... but I mean, clearly, that's fine. You asked your questions--

ANNIE
Well you! You have a history of lying. You have a history of--

CASEY
(chuckling) Alright, alright, fine. Yes, I'm a criminal, right, I'm a scam-- I'm a fraud, I'm a conman, yeah, what else am I?"

Finally, Casey Serin's frustration throws his own game off, and he reveals his sense of entitlement, in a couple of sentences that suggest "I'm smarter and better than you, and good things will come my way because I deserve that to happen."

"ANNIE
I wouldn't say that, but going back to the begathon, you begged people and asked people to pay for your, you know, CashCall, 'cause they were calling--

CASEY
Yeah! And that pisses you off because I'm able to do that! What is wrong with me giving a service for money? Nothing! It's business! It's business."

This is a pattern of manipulation that we've seen time and time again with Casey Serin. First, deflect--make a joke out of a serious topic, then laugh along with it. If that doesn't work, shift into mirror questions in the hope the other party takes the bait and starts talking about him/herself. Combine that with some half-right reflexives to get the other party back on the same page with you.

Round three is to play the victim, asking the other party why they continue to persecute with the repeated line of questioning. And the final straw is to walk away, stating that "you just don't understand" because the topic at hand is obviously too complex for the questioning party to grasp.

And I've always had a vague sense that I'd seen it somewhere before. In reading Caseypedia's excellent transcript of the fraudcast, it finally occurred to me what the missing link most likely is. It's something that I first picked up on when reading through the nightmarish quagmire of Casey Serin's del.icio.us bookmarks, which showed that he was reading up on "How To Read People for Profit."

Since this post is already pretty long, see the next post for the answer...

Was I Wrong About the Timeline?

Casey Serin says he's now back in the U.S., which would mean my guess that he would miss the July 5 deadline was wrong. And I have to say, I really do hope I'm wrong on this one. It would be good news that Casey Serin is back on U.S. soil, within the grasp of law enforcement, and more importantly, within the grasp of his family.

I posted yesterday about Casey Serin's plans to hustle his way around the globe. And I still stand by the information as it was relayed. There were always going to be two problems with posting that info....first and foremost, anything that originates from Casey Serin is suspect. We've seen him lie, cheat, and steal for the past ten months, even when it directly impacts his own family.

The second issue stemmed from the timing. I knew it was coming out on the cusp...but on the cusp of what was the question. The whole scenario was definitely at a crossroads. In my mind, it was worth publishing in the event that he had decided to persue his harebrained scheme of a worldwide media tour.

I'd rather be wrong about a timeline than read the latest about Casey Serin posting from Japan or Indonesia, lining up new pigeons along the way. And for the record, Casey missing the July 5 deadline was my guess, no one else's.

I can't imagine that, if Casey Serin is indeed home, that it will be a very happy homecoming. The family has to be absolutely livid, his wife exponentially more so. On the other hand, Mark Villasenor is probably dancing with glee.

Will Casey Serin actually meet a deadline and appear in Superior Court to answer Mark's charges? Oh, god, I hope so. Casey seems physically incapable of telling the truth, so if Mark Villasenor is able to provide the court with the documentation that proves Casey Serin's multiple frauds and continued criminal enterprises, it will be an Independence Day of a whole new shade.

I've got to be in the office early today, as a whole slew of meetings and conference calls await. It's my own fault that I let my looser W-2 job get in the way of important blogging. But Rob Dawg says he's got a bombshell to drop today, so the week should start off with a bang.

Casey Serin's UnderLYING Agenda

Is Casey Serin really headed back to the United States? If so, he's been planning a rather circuitous route home.

A few interested parties started forwarding me some information about Casey Serin's Australia trip, several weeks ago. Each one asked that I hold off posting anything about these plans, in the hope of talking some sense into the wayward fraudster. Now that Casey Serin is claiming to be headed directly back home, one of these parties has given the green light to fill in some blanks.

True to form of mining his Inbox for gold nuggets, Casey Serin has been searching for offers of housing throughout the world. He had previously posted on his website, "I Am Facing Foreclosure" that he was open to accepting housing offers from his readers, if anyone would allow him to stay at their homes.

Some newbies bit, thinking that Casey Serin was just a misguided and somewhat lost kid who was probably in need of a hot meal and some words of wisdom. Other offers came from folks who had been following Casey Serin's story for a while, who thought it might be a laugh to meet the "World's Most Hated Blogger" in person.

There are still others, those who have been helping Casey Serin with his website and various other enterprises while he's touring Australia. Casey has managed to keep in contact with them more frequently and consistently than his own wife and family. And even they think that's pretty seedy.

(Note to Casey Serin: You think Mark Villasenor has it out for you? You don't even know the half of it. You're trusting people who shouldn't be trusted further than they can be kicked. The haterz called it from the beginning. But once again, great judgement on your part!)

Showing his usual lack of discretion, Casey Serin started working his contacts to see what he could get. While he's telling the world that he's headed back to California, Casey Serin is actually trying to couch-surf his way around the world.

He felt pretty solid after getting some sweet media attention upon arrival in Australia. He hopes to travel the world, duplicating this media exposure in every country he visits. According to Casey, this will earn him new advertisers in each place he travels, as well as attract some new nefarious business contacts, which we all know by now means collecting some new marks along the way.

While Casey Serin's own wife, Galina Serin, cannot reach him via phone during his travels, those whom he considers to be in his inner circle have had fairly free and unfettered access to the amateur con artist and admitted mortgage felon.

Note to Galina Serin: While your husband is not so inclined to answer his Aussie cell since the haterz leaked the number (yes, it is 042 441 5051, but he's looking for another one now) you can reach him on Skype with the username "caseyserin." Redirect some of those CashCall calls there, and let your husband have a taste of what you've been dealing with in his absence.

There are plenty of, frankly, fools out there who are willing to let Casey Serin come into their lives and homes. So while Mama Serin may be offering a return flight home, Casey Serin has been telling others that he will divert those funds to a different destination entirely.

At this point, don't expect him home for Mark Villasenor's July 5 deadline, or any others. He's convinced that there are untold thousands of dollars (big thinker, he) to be mined from what he considers to be a media tour of the world.


(A sidenote: Until I'd caught up on a few of Rob's posts at EN this morning, I didn't realize that the Serin family didn't have a way to contact Sercasey. I knew there was a lack of contact on both sides, but assumed it was mutual. Had I known, I would have forwarded the phone number and Skype contact to the family via Duane LeGate or Rob Dawg.)

Nigel Swaby Seeks Internet Asylum

Since Casey Serin has kicked his former little buddy Nigel Swaby to the curb, the "Man of a Million Blogs" mortgage lender has been seeking internet asylum. Sticking to his old trick of trying to garner as much redirected traffic as possible, Nigel Swaby seems once again pulled into the aura of the ExUrbanNation crowd...the very same folks he has repeatedly gone out of his way to repudiate.

I haven't spent a lot of time at EN lately. The sheer volume of posts and comments have been difficult to keep up with. So imagine my surprise when I read through several posts and find Nigel and some Haterz yukking it up.

To clarify, in just March of this year, Nigel Swaby, a licensed mortgage broker who has access to financial and credit software, decided to post the identities of three frequent posters at EN. I don't know if he abused his professional position in order to triangulate his information. But it is incredibly unsettling that someone in this position would do that, particularly considering the "grand offense" that catalyzed his actions. Per Nigel:

"...Finally, one hater impersonated me on IAFF. Unfortunately for him, I knew who he was. So I made a comment at IAFF to clear my name. I “outed” said hater and EN erupted. They emailed my boss and some other people unrelated to my company. They “reported” me to the State board - Your action was childish and vindictive. I have reported you to your state board.

The “outed” hater called me the next day. Do you know what he did? He apologized. We had a good talk about the whole thing and he apologized. He asked me to remove reference to him at IAFF and do you know what? I did.

As far as my boss [at Integrity First Financial] goes, he had this comment - I looked at your post 109 and fell off my chair. Great humor, way to put the dweeb in his place. This whole blog thing is a frickin hoot! Happy traffic!"

So whomever Nigel spoke with apologized for utilizing the user name Nigel Swaby in the comments section of the website "I Am Facing Foreclosure." In return, Nigel Swaby posted pictures and brief bios on these people, who, to my knowledge, don't even maintain blogs...they were just regulars to comment at ExUrbanNation.

Considering this history, I was confused as I read through EN and noticed Nigel Swaby and some of the "Haterz" being pleasant to one another. I decided to poll the audience for answers:

"I'm unclear as to where all the Nigel love has come from of late. Do people have such short memories that everyone has forgotten the outings, the "full of hate" comments, the sneering "I don't like you" bullshit?

I'm just not on board. Because, Nigel, it seems you've been playing both sides against the middle since the beginning. This latest outpouring of hand-holding around the campfire seems to coincide with KC officially kicking you out of his inner circle. So is this just any port in a storm?

I don't see any grand revelations coming from you...merely confirmations of things already proven as fact. Why take so long to divulge what are some inconsequential factoids? Why still pandering (like way back on the SDCIA boards) with the "I'll post that later...patience" routine?"

The first person to respond said, "Congratulations are in order to everyone that caught on early, you clearly are more 'people smart.' Some of us are not. The shame of that is punishment enough, no?"

I can't answer that, because it's a logical fallacy. This isn't about kicking someone when he's down. Because Nigel Swaby wasn't just Casey Serin's biggest cheerleader. He was a vindictive, awful man-child who went out of his way to publish information about prominent Casey Serin critics in the hope of intimidating them into silence.

That's not an "oops!" offense.

In response to my query at EN, Nigel Swaby responds:

"Aspeth,

I think the change in attitude came from the 2nd haterzcast I called in on. Yes, I supported Casey publicly and privately for far too long. I probably would have continued to do so had he not abandoned his wife. I have a real problem with that.

The change in tone has come in part because people now see me as a real human being and no longer as some sort of character or caricature. I'm an honest person and have been sharing what I can to paint a clearer picture of what's been going on. I've protected Casey in the past when I probably shouldn't have.

Like Mark, Duane and even yourself I now think Casey needs to be stopped. I didn't consider him dangerous before, but now he's hurting real people. He's shirked all consequences to date and now I am doing my part as probably his strongest online supporter to show the world what he truly is: a deluded, selfish child that needs to grow up and face his mistakes."

So, wait...Nigel made a phone call, pulled a few jabs at himself and now it's all Kumbaya and s'mores?

"I Like M. Singh" pointed out that Nigel Swaby has offered no apologies for his previous behaviour, saying

"Please accept this note in support of your comments regarding MR SWABY. We have seen three of his 'outed' publicly "forgive", though not in so many words, MR SWABY's nefarious actions. My response to this is, for one, there remains the nice gentleman with the Scion and the Comics, and two, it was still a wrong act in principle and no public apology has been proffered- only a veiled suggestions that perhaps MR SWABY has grown from this experience, and so on.

I am one of those that MR SWABY compared to rats being shone light upon."

I was interested to hear Nigel Swaby's response to these, and other criticisms that have been levied against him. I asked the following, but not surprisingly, Nigel Swaby decided to lurk rather than respond.

"As I've stated before in my award-winning blog, I've always found it incredibly dodgy that a mortgage lender would befriend and defend a mortgage fraudster. And that was just confirmed with your comment, Nigel, that only now is KC "hurting real people."

Was he somehow not hurting real people by appropriating $2.2 million from various banks? Was he not hurting real people by letting those properties fall into disrepair and fall into foreclosure?

Lawnmower man, I appreciate your point but no, I didn't see any revelations. There had already been much talk of KC shopping for a million-plus w/cashback, even before the Utah trip. To say that speculation over Nigel's boss being "g" is what prompted that is utter bullocks. That speculation has been going on for months...again, it only comes out after KC kicks Nigel out of the clubhouse.

Thanks for the clarification, ILMS. I was wondering if an apology had been proffered for the outings. I mean, Jesus, Nigel...you outed a FED! The idea that someone with gov't-issued professional licensure would do such a thing is beyond the pale!"

Nigel Swaby has tried to make nice with with Casey Serin's critics several times before, most notably when Casey gave him the boot by tossing out their business agreement. In short order, Nigel returned to his petulant thin-skinned ways.

We are often, in life, required to suspend disbelief in order to grasp a clearer picture of any particular situation. For me, I suspend disbelief in the early stages of the relationship. And when behaviors repeat themselves, it becomes easier to determine who the person is behind the social mask.

If someone I knew of but didn't know personally were to walk up and slap the person standing next to me, I would not only form an opinion, I wouldn't avail myself to be party to such a circus again.

In much the same manner, Nigel Swaby could be a multi-faceted person that becomes more agreeable as you get to know him. But based on the past behaviour that Nigel has exhibited, I've experienced all I can stomach, and I'd rather stick with my well-formed opinion than volunteer to be batted about.

Cross a Cheerleader, Fear Your World

Hell hath no fury like a cheerleader whose pom-poms have been knotted and sullied. Such is the case with Casey Serin's former cheerleaders, who have turned against him with more venom and vigor than any so-called "hater" could ever muster.

First, there were Nigel Swaby's attempts to slough off Casey Serin and make nice with the critics, who saw through his antics as just another attempt to whore for attention and drive traffic to his multiple blog drivel. He straddled the fence between the two camps, eventually switching back to Team Casey, only to recently be publicly disparaged by the Boy Wonder.

Things were quiet along the western front, until a strong wind blew in from the south. Duane LeGate was the next to go public, refuting Casey Serin's troll on the "I Am Facing Foreclosure" site that he was (pout) thinking about shutting down the blog.

Duane offered a great deal of insight into his role with Casey--and what he demanded in return. One of the few strangers to approach Casey Serin without an outstanding agenda of his own, Duane LeGate demanded that Casey start to live up to his adult responsibilities. When Casey continued his dance of deceiving and ignorning, Duane decided to go public.

Casey Serin's brother, Steve Serin, popped up next in a Friday Night Fraudcast. Like Duane LeGate, the guy was obviously trying to rattle his older brother in an attempt to have Casey Serin realize just how desperate his life had really become.

LossMitPro (Mark Villasenor in the real world) started to dance on the dark side after Casey Serin went into supporterz-ignore mode with him. As his moniker suggests, this loss mitigation specialist was working with Casey to get the half-million or so in outstanding payments down to manageable nuggets.

Like all who came before him, Casey Serin fucked this supporter as well. And apparently the new affiliation with Marty Stewart and his vague threats of lawsuits, DMCA complaints, et al, have sent Mark Villasenor into seizures of glee.

Because Mark Villasenor has always seemed to want to have a good fight with someone. And the Marty Stewart-Casey Serin posturing provided him with a great opportunity to flex some legal muscle.

Mr. Villasenor fired off an "I dare you" letter to Casey Serin and Marty Stewart. In essence, it's a response to the copyright claim that the dynamic dumbasses are making in regard to Casey Serin's "brain dump" recordings. Mark Villasenor counters that they are in fact evidence of Casey Serin's multiple crimes, and because of that cannot be copyrighted.

Giving both Casey Serin and Marty Stewart the big middle finger, Mark reposted the recordings for "public inspection." It had been theorized that "LossMitPro" was working, not for Casey Serin, but for his lenders, to ensure that Sercasey did indeed pay his debts. The message on Mark's company website confuses that theory.

What Mark Villasenor has said is that he's chomping at the bit for Casey Serin, Marty Stewart or the combination to sue him. He even says that if they don't sue him that he may initiate a case himself.

While this sounds, and perhaps is, a bit fucking crazy, it seems that Mr. LossMitPro is calling what appears to be a huge bluff. Casey Serin has too much to hide, and sitting through depositions would not only require him to travel back to California from his little hideout in Australia, it would force him to reveal, under oath, the details of all the shady dealings he's been doing for the past year and a half. Perhaps longer.

It's an incredibly interesting twist in the Casey Serin saga. And it will be crazy to see it all play out. Certainly, Marty Stewart may have lost some of his plucky backtalk as the week ends.

While I have no first-hand knowledge, I've heard it said over the past year that if you save the cheerleader, you save the world. I don't know if this is true or not, but one thing long-time "haterz" do know--it really is harder than it looks to keep a cheerleader on Team Casey Serin.

Marty Stewart, Crybaby

In my opinion, of course.

Casey Serin's so-called publisher Marty Stewart consented to an interview with cnet's Declan McCullagh earlier this week.

Marty Stewart starts the interview on a hostile tone, implying that anyone who has seen the web pages where he and Casey Serin had parked content must have hacked his server.

(The good folk at Caseypedia have transcribed the conversation for those who would rather read than listen.)


Private Content

Marty Stewart says "I never wanted to get sucked into, uh, Casey's story, per se, I just wanted to kinda report on it, you know, in book and info product form just as you are, with articles! And, um, basically, our content, er, actually, a chunk of our content and creation [phone] calls were actually on a hidden web page on our site, as well as other client proposals and other client-sensitive material and somehow, I don't know how yet, these people-- call 'em Casey's Haterz™-- found out about our... somehow found these hidden pages. I don't know if one of our servers was hacked or what, but basically--"

Declan McCullagh interjects, "Basically wasn't it just indexed by the Alexa search engine?..."


Exactly. Marty Stewart is whipping out some pretty inflamatory accusations, that some hacker actually committed a felony to bust into his servers. The truth is that the pages in question were available for public viewing on an Alexa page. Marty quickly reverses his hacker tirade and goes on to say,

"Yeah I think what may have happened... just because, obviously we're marketers, (Twelve Years insert: I thought you were a publisher, Marty?) so we have Alexa toolbars on even our assistants, our virtual assistants, everybody who works for our company has Alexa toolbars installed. So the only thing I can surmise is that somehow just by surfing with Alexa...So, now it's being uploaded and blasted all over the place, and now me personally and my company, you know, is being blasted and smeared all over the Internet, so uh, now I'm, to be frank I'm very pissed."


Copyright! Raw Content! Internet Sophistication!

Marty Stewart has been referred to as some sort of Internet Marketing Guru. But his internet sophistication is such that he didn't understand that, by requiring all of his independent contractors to surf with an Alexa toolbar (are you getting some sort of affiliate kickback on that, Marty?) he was putting his private files online for all to see.

Oh, Marty....That YouTube video of you (the one you pulled down) expounding on the Adsense improvements you learned from some other jackass guru shows a true pro! In fact, what I gathered from your video is that you're one of those guys who parks a domain, uses some scrapers to pull content and headlines from sites like this one--you know, the ones with original content and then load it up with Google ads.

Is that really a professional job? Because to me it sounds like the internet version of the old woman who comes around to snake aluminium cans out of my recycling bin before the trucks come each week.


Nigel Swaby Redux

Much like Nigel Swaby tried to surf Casey Serin's coattails by issuing his "Aspiring Internet Journalist Lands Real Estate Story of the Year" press releases, Marty Stewart tried to steer the exact same trainwreck. But Marty Stewart must have an incredibly steep learning curve, because he doesn't seem to have gotten the lesson that not only does Casey Serin fuck every associate he comes into contact with, the supposed "haterz" use that person as a chew toy.

Yet this supposed Internet Marketing Guru doesn't understand even the basics of DMCA, copyright, and fair use. He actually thinks he's going to somehow track down the Haterz via their user names (another Nigel Swaby move) and pursue some nebulous plan of attack. Marty Stewart says,

"You know, obviously it's copyrighted content and it's being smeared all over, and also, whatever procedure... that's what we're still trying to figure out today, is that through Google? Anybody's screen name, as far as people that are leaving certain posts, and are actually screen names for people that are uploading onto various websites, we're going to aggressively pursue finding out who these people actually are and, again, now it's a principle thing in my mind."

Declan McCullagh is again the voice of reason, pointing out that "It seems like the more you try to make a stink about this, and file legal threats or lawsuits, the more people are going to mirror the content maybe in other countries, put it up on freenet, that sort of thing. Maybe if you just ignore it, it'll just go away."


"Those People"

Marty Stewart likes to refer to Casey Serin's critics as "those people." Marty, those people are the fucking base you're trying to sell these shoddy pamphlets to! Unless you're truly bottom-feeding and hoping that some rube on the outskirts is going to actually take foreclosure advice from you and Casey Serin.

Marty Stewart seems much like Casey in failing to see his role in the give-and-take between the critical community. The opening salvo that Marty Stewart printed in "I Am Facing Foreclosure" asked for Those People to contribute content to his publication! (Pardon me while I gasp for laughter.)

"You can even be quoted in the book as “haterz” or as “supporterz”. There will be one chapter dedicated to both sides! Love him, or hate him, you have a chance to be quoted!"

Sorry, Marty...Those People aren't necessarily clamouring to have their ideas and words handed over to you so that you can shill your shite all over the interwebs.


You Are Reading Criticism, Commentary and Opinion

I suppose Marty Stewart somehow believed that he could be the one person to come out of a Casey Serin deal unscathed. The hubris! Of course, this is the same guy who says on "I Am Facing Foreclosure" that he basically twisted Casey Serin's blue balls to get him back into the game. He tells the IAFF audience that,

"We have been privy to many details in Casey’s life he’s revealed only to a close few in his “inner circle” and some details he’s never shared with anyone.

These things were “leverage points” we had to use with Casey to point out what route we “could” take, but merely pointed these out to get Casey’s attention, as he ignored us for over 4 days. We had to assume the worst, and that Casey was flaking out on his publishing deal with us.
...Having “insider information” into Casey’s life, allowed us to touch on some hot buttons that Casey’s creditors have no clue about.

I won’t go into detail here, as it would provide a roadmap for his creditors to follow."

Marty Stewart must also share the trait of being irony-free, as this mansack-twisting is outlined immediately before a subject header that contains the words "Honoring, Morally, and Ethically." Oh, too funny, that!


Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain!

When Declan McCullagh tries to pin Marty Stewart down regarding any of his clients, past success stories, or even number of employees, Marty becomes audibly uncomfortable and evasive.

This would, in my experience, put Marty Stewart into the category of so many untold thousands of Southern California men, known as the Fake It 'Til You Make It Guys. These are the ones who like to wear shiny shirts and talk a big bag of crap about their supposed businesses.

They range from club promoters to internet jockeys, and they toss around terms like "VC guys" and "angels" at cocktail parties, trying to impress everyone within earshot. But when pressed, like Declan tried to do with Marty Stewart, there are no answers...just shady side-stepping and subject changes.

These guys always fall back on the "non-disclosure agreement" line. Always. Because all they have are the smoke and mirrors. A few vocab terms. And a constant eye toward finding people who will work "on spec," for commission, or for equity.

Bwaaahhaaahaaahaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!


More Private Content. Dont Read This! STOP IT!!!

It's really a beautiful thing when the universe pairs people up like this. Soulmates are so hard to find. Yet when Casey Serin needs to find one, like he has with Marty Stewart, all he has to do is mine his Inbox for the gold that lurks within.

Who's running the betting for how many months until Marty is showing up on a "hater" blog to tell his side of the story? My bet is that it happens sometime around the end of summer.

Casey Serin Flees the Country

Were law enforcement agencies getting close to arresting Casey Serin? Now that we've learned that he's fled the country to Australia, that certainly seems plausible. After all, the website Myebid has been posting a listing for the sale of "I Am Facing Foreclosure" for over a week now.

It's difficult to tell if this is really Casey Serin posting the website for sale, but as of this evening, the current bid is $20,000. The listing says "iamfacingforeclosure.com is now for sale, the Feds are getting too close and I am fleeing back to Uzbekistan, it was fun why it lasted. Thanks everyone!"

Galina Serin is finally talking. And it's because her husband, Casey Serin, has fled the country, leaving her with a mountain of debt and possible criminal charges looming.

Rob Dawg at ExUrbanNation posted an incredible Casey Serin scoop...namely, that Casey Serin has been crashing with his folks, presumably persona non grata at Yulia's at the moment. He called Galina to tell her that he was leaving and if she wanted to say goodbye to come over immediately.

What Galina Serin did not immediately know is that Casey Serin had cleaned out their accounts, leaving her with no means to pay the bills. An "I Am Facing Foreclosure" fawning imbecile fan had donated a plane ticket to Australia, where two other gullible morons sponsors have offered the care and feeding of one Casey Serin for the next couple of months.

Considering how difficult it is to get a freeloading Casey Serin out of one's home once the invitation has been extended, I have to wonder about the wisdom of that.

Assuming that Casey Serin did not plan his trip too far in advance, he would have gotten an ETA in lieu of a visa. This would allow him to stay for three months at a time in Australia. No doubt, it would have greatly appealed to him that "employment is prohibited."

A fresh, new, unused excuse for Casey to tramp out!

To call Casey Serin a coward is simply too easy. He's so far outside the bounds that, even after a two-family intervention, Casey Serin is still willing to flee from the deeds of his own hands and leave his wife holding the bag.

I recently finished a great book called The Floating Brothel, which details the journey of Australia's first female convicts to populate the island after being cast out of England.

The juicy bit of the story comes from the fact that these founding mothers, in essence, prostituted their way to the new world. As their ship made dozens of stops on its way to Oz, the ladies used their feminine wiles to their advantage, collecting quite the handsome nest egg before their arrival to the new world.

And isn't that just the path that Casey Serin has taken? He's whored himself around the interwebs, and every so-called opportunity that presented itself was just another way for him to flatback his way through life, ultimately landing in Australia.

(That said, the story of the Aussie founding mothers is an amazing tale, and I came away with an incredible amount of respect for what these women accomplished. This is where the parallel to Casey Serin ends.)


There is more snark to come. Schnapps I will be doing a joint post of goodness, where two smart, snarky girls come together in a cyberspace coffee shop (or wine bar, depending on the time of day) to hash out the details.

Is Anyone Surprised?

Below the Crowd pointed out that Casey Serin and "I Am Facing Foreclosure" are back online. And yet, I just don't think anyone is going to be surprised.

Casey Serin has never been able to live up to the terms of a contract, apparently even one with his wife and family. I imagine the past week has been an emotionally draining one for Casey Serin, mustering up his best con artist (or, as T prefers, con finger painter) ways to convince Galina and the Serin Family that he must, MUST get back online.

After all, what will the camera crew from Intervention have to tape for b-roll if Casey Serin isn't blogging?

Sweet media stories being printed without mention of Casey Serin, the blogosphere continuing along its path without his voice to be heard...all of this must have been far too much for Casey Serin.

The only thing that amazes me are the cheerleaders and supporters who defend the Snowflake as he repeatedly proves their trust and affections to be woefully misplaced.

I just wonder if, in all of the wrangling that had to take place for Casey Serin to get access to his shiny toys again, he admitted to his family that he was sneaking online late at night?

Or better yet, if Serin dad Aleskey knows that Mama Serin is Casey's guarantor for the shady shell corp?

Casey Serin in "Whipped" Magazine

A prominent Casey Serin Hater sent this my way. It's a fitting tribute to include some Casey Serin paraphernalia here, since the little bugger just can't stop surfing the blogs. I happened to notice him on these pages at around 1:30 last night, and I wonder if he was sneaking in some internet addiction after Galina Serin and Yulia Suprun had gone to bed.

And that thought makes this image that more fitting.


Thank you to the individual who sent this along. Said Hater wishes to remain anonymous regarding the artwork, although I think it's worthy of some high praise. I think my favorite headline is "How to Pretend You Care...When You Can't Because You're a Sociopath."

Nicely done.

Maybe next month's edition of "Whipped" Magazine will cover "When You Fall Down While Learning to Walk," or "Short-Pants! Summer Fashions for the Man-Child!"


Slightly off-topic, but if anyone knows how to post this in a better format, without Blogger condensing it so drastically, I'd love to know!

Good Riddance

Akubi wanted me to write something about Casey Serin's final Friday night fraudcast. So after the obligatory jogging and yoga, I spent the afternoon listening to the replay.

I've been a bit surprised that I haven't really been able to muster any feelings one way or the other about Casey Serin's disappearance into the ether. I think this comes, in large part, from just not believing a damn thing that comes from Casey Serin or his "I Am Facing Foreclosure" site.

As I said to Schnapps earlier this morning (and, I later learned, was reflected in many callers' attitudes as well) that by changing out the mainpage, Casey Serin is still in fact blogging.

And I just don't believe that he'll be able to cut his losses so easily. Galina may have taken his shiny tech toys away from him by confiscating the cell and laptop, but he's obviously finding ways around this, with or without Galina's slack consent.

My complete disinterest in the demise of "I Am Facing Foreclosure" was washed away by listening to yet another round of Casey Serin playing the victim on his chat show. Perhaps because I actively avoid spending any great deal of time with slack-jawed imbeciles, I've just never seen someone who so completely and thoroughly misses the point every flipping time.

Casey Serin's false wisdom comes out straight away, with his assessment that "Realtors are eager to show vacant homes." In fact, the opposite is true largely because, without the feel-good elements of living spaces defined for them, most buyers are unable to immediately relate to the space.

A simple Google search reveals real estate agents all over the country discussing the challenges of selling vacant homes. Not to mention that an entire peripheral industry that has sprouted to alleviate the burdens of selling vacant homes.

Casey Serin then makes it clear that simple facts still elude him. When asked about his job hunt, he replies that he's basically still mining his Inbox for gold, rather than making any outside effort for employment. When it is pointed out to him that the contract with Galina stipulates that he look for a job as soon as IAFF goes down, he says "If the contract says that and I broke it, then that's your opinion."

No, asshole, it's not an opinion. Facts are facts. The dictionary reminds us that a "fact" is "something that has actual existence." A fact exists at face value. The process of query and debate ends upon conclusion that something is indeed factual.

Casey Serin tells the world that "I resent and hate that it worked out his way," clearly a reference to Galina and the families' intervention. Again clueless to reality, he still insists that Galina Serin regards the IAFF blog as Casey Serin's mistress. Wrong again, little dude. Galina's fed up with scrubbing toilets while you sit on your ass. Plain and simple.

Casey sneers to his caller "Thanks for your negativity." Actually, you're the one pouting and crying, Casey, so the vast majority of negativity was actually spewing out of your lying mouth.

A caller named "internet" picks up on this and calls Casey Serin out on his inability to commit, follow through, and live up to his word. Casey Serin whines again, his tired "I'm so misunderstood" routine, and bitches that he's being picked apart. The funniest part of this exchange is when Casey Serin asks his caller if he would chastise a child for falling down while it's learning to walk.

If the child in question burned down the house as it fell down while learning to walk, then YES, every blessed one of us would chastise the child, Casey.

Casey Serin doesn't appreciate "internet" pointing out that he's not a child and shifts the blame from Galina to the Haterz as being the reason for shutting down "I Am Facing Foreclosure." No one sees, in Casey Serin's opinion (which, again, holds a different definition from the aforementioned word "fact") the voluminous positive changes he's been able to make.

You know what, Casey? You're correct there. No one has been able to see that. Because your "positive changes" are like an imaginary friend that you carry around in your pocket and feed cracker crumbs to.


Now a special word to Casey Serin's last vocal supporter, Mocha. I don't know where you came from, sweetheart, but you're obviously new to this game. When you popped up on an earlier fraudcast, I took you at face value as a young, overeager little queen who was twittering from all the drama.

But since you're repeatedly inserting yourself into the line of fire, here's the dish, Mary. In all of your exuberance in supporting Casey Serin, you're just playing out the newbie routine--oh the Haterz are so hard on you! and all that nonsense. Did it escape you that Casey Serin treated you like everyone else who has earnestly offered him advice? He smiled and nodded and then continued to traipse down his merry path of picking dandelions.

I had a whole coterie of post-brunch queens with me this afternoon as I listened to your bullshit. And they all rolled their eyes and laughed out loud in recognizing the hubris of the young gay male.

On that topic, maybe you should have asked Casey Serin how he feels about queers...what fun tidbits of information he's picked up from his fundamentalist teachers. Because we've already seen what he's been reading about the world's non-white population.

One of my queens pointed out that, as a particularly flamboyant little thing, you must have really been put through the ringer at some point to identify and even align yourself with the downtrodden Casey Serin. Fair enough. But I find your ignorance appalling. You can't see Nigel Swaby for the seedy hanger-on that he is, so it's not surprising that you won't acknowledge Casey Serin as a criminal, fraud, and liar.

Even Casey Serin doesn't take Nigel Swaby seriously. He's ignored everything Nigel has ever said to him, dangled the carrot in front of him regarding bringing Nigel into "I Am Facing Foreclosure," and doesn't even read Nigel Swaby's multiple blogs.

In fact, when Nigel Swaby called in to talk to Casey Serin, Nigel smugly made reference to one of his blogs, asking Casey to acknowledge and thereby publicize it. After several seconds during which I swear there were crickets chirping, Casey admitted he hadn't seen it. A defeated Nigel Swaby then hung up.


Through all of Casey's pouting during the Friday fraudcast, one thing is clear. He's pissed off that he couldn't control the story. And maybe that's the thing that finally drove Galina Serin, the Serin family, and the Suprun family to the edge. The fluffy articles about "Casey and Galina Serin as victims of predatory lending or the real estate bubble" are gone. Instead, they've been replaced by stories of "The World's Most Hated Blogger."

So, Casey, you can be as angry as you like over the fact that, from the earliest days, the Haterz controlled the story. The reality is that you never could have existed without them. They linked to you, increased your page rankings, and stirred up interest in all corners of the blogosphere on your behalf.

We were always going to win this one. Because at the end of the day, you're going to fade to obscurity, known for little else but a dancing monkey on the internet for a few months. We've all got our careers, our friends, our families, not to mention our hopes, dreams and futures. You've got that gnawing pit of dread in your stomach, waiting to see when the next shoe will drop, who will be coming for you next.

Just do us all a favor...when the po'po does eventually come to take you away, be sure to pull an O.J. so that we can all watch the v-dubs careening down the 101 in a desperate attempt to make a run for the border.

Consider it a final blog entry for the Haterz.

Okay, Fine, Let's Talk About Casey Serin

Over the course of the past two weeks, I've paid far more attention to the goings-on at the brilliant Caseypedia wiki than I have the little fucktard himself. I love this site for two reasons: a few months ago, Casey Serin whined to the wikinazis about the portrayal of him in his wikipedia entry. They threatened to pull the plug on the entire entry, although much of what was said in those pages came directly from Casey Serin's own blog.

The other reason I love Caseypedia is that it is such a fabulous collection of so-called Haterz' writing. Proving that Casey Serin's critics are some of the brightest people online, Caseypedia is a highly accurate archive of Casey Serin's crimes and general stupidity, tossed with a light vinaigrette of dark humor and biting sarcasm.

In the chaos of the past two weeks, I'm still not entirely clear who initiated this wiki, so please step forward to claim your prize praise.

I haven't actually logged in yet to add to the mix, but want to thank Benoit for initiating an entry pour moi. And I really want to know who included the incredibly funny line about me in M. SINGH's entry. BTC has denied adding it, so I suspect either Benoit again or Akubi (who at the time of this writing, does not have her own wiki entry. I'll have to log in and remedy that!)

As I said before, I've paid only scant attention to Casey Serin over the past two weeks. But there were two things that I'd like to point out. After reading Casey's little meltdown toward Duane Legate during his talkcast-in-lieu-of-beg-a-thon, I wanted to physically shake the little fucktard.

The petulant tone and ensuing temper tantrum were totally out of line. Here's the bottom line, Casey--Duane LeGate has repeatedly offered significant help and resources to you, free of charge. And you have, frankly, fucked him nine ways from Sunday each and every time. You say you wouldn't post personal emails. Didn't you do just that with PRLinkScam?

Hasn't Nigel Swaby done exactly the same thing with your emails, time and time again, in an effort to pimp you out on his multiple blogs? Once again, you chose the wrong battle.

The other thing that struck me was that Casey Serin has begun to implement so many of the scams and plans that I predicted he'd pull out of his bag of tricks. He'd implemented his own version of "pay per post" in his blog, turning content over to basically writing about his advertisers and pasting in some hubris from folks who paid $100 to damage their professional reputations.

For the record, advertising on Casey Serin's "I Am Facing Foreclosure" reveals you to be an "any port in a storm" kind of person, regardless of your industry.

During this phase of Casey's blogging, he crows that he's recently taken an IQ test offered by one of his scamvertisers. And just as I've suspected all along, the results were less than stellar. A couple of weeks ago, Rob Dawg asked if his intuition might be off regarding Casey's intelligence or lack thereof.

But then Casey Serin actually revealed that he's got an IQ of 132 based off of some cheesy internet poll. I'm not going to waste time on determining whether or not this is an inflated number...I'll let the boy have his supposed "win" on this one.

This explains entirely why Casey Serin's critics lost patience with him so quickly. Because most of us regard that level of intelligence the way an average person regards a clinical moron. There's that large a gap between us and you, Casey.

Let me put it another way...one of the myriad admission requirements for my kindergarden was a minimum IQ of 150. And those were the "slow" kids.

So, Casey, you're just what we suspected all along--ill-equipped to make it into the Big Leagues. In this crowd, we'd probably open a vein and relax in a warm tub if we were as dumb as you. We assume that someone with that low an IQ has to remove their shoes and socks to count to twenty. You might have to go back and read that again very slowly to understand it, but it will eventually sink in.

Your 132 IQ earned you the ability to learn some business vocab off of the backs of flashcards. But your limited intelligence also means that you're not capable of applying that knowledge in any significant way.

So with no talent and not a heaping load of brainpower, you really did find your niche...carnival sideshow. What you achieved with IAFF is about the best you can do. And even then, you never quite found a way to push through any barriers and take even one segment of that website to the next level.

Whatever outage is going on with your site this time (yawn), you'd better hope you can find some way to live up to the promises you made to your advertisers. Because while I think they're a bunch of halfwits as well, they could very well take a great deal of pleasure in filing small-claims and other nuisance suits against you. By plastering their praise for you all over your blog, you'll prove them fools for doing business with you, and they could very well try to take your only legitimate resource--"I Am Facing Foreclosure" itself.

Casey Serin is the Smelly Car of real estate, the blogosphere, and the business world in general. By making the I Am Facing Foreclosure advertisers look like fools, they're just joining a list of folks who are learning just how hard it is to escape the stink.

Another Dumb-Ass Casey Serin Scheme

"Countdown to Beg-A-Thon Two" at I Am Facing Foreclosure shows that Casey Serin intents to replicate his goofy internet panhandling in less than an hour.

Since this round of the Casey Serin Tent Revival Meeting will commence at 2p.m. Pacific time, the whole plan seems even more ridiculous than normal. After all, in announcing that he will hold the "Casey Serin Welfare Hour" in advance, he's given lots of people time to consider the ramifications of giving him money.

So he's assuming that readers will somehow plan to "donate" money to him, rather what happened at the last beg-a-thon....namely, Haterz relaxing with a few cocktails, their cynicism worn down from a long week of actually working.

Could Casey Serin think that, having exhausted his access to the Haterz deep pockets, that he can somehow fool the newbies into tossing a few sheckels into his guitar case? If so, the advance notice has given newcomers to the Casey Serin story plenty of time to read up on his antics before tossing their spare change into his PayPal account.

Today, I made my first visit over to IAFF in at least a month. Perhaps the best part of reading the trite "Baiting Haterz" post was the resurgence of "T", better known as Nacho the Cat.

"T" was the woman who, during Casey Serin's second "live chat" called him on the carpet like a puppy with a piddle, trying to mama-slap some sense into the echoing cavern of Casey Serin's skull.

I'm glad to see "T" come back, not just because I think she's a great lady with a lot to say, but also because during Casey Serin's original beg-a-thon (also known as "CashCall's Coming to Take All of Yulia's Furniture) she again tried to parent him, sending him some cash for groceries.

All she asked in return was that he post a receipt, showing that the money actually did go to feed him and his wife Galina Serin.

Of course, like every other obligation and responsibility, Casey blew it off. Instead, he posted that he and Galina Serin went off to IKEA to purchase some office furniture (as you can see in the C|net article.)

T's message to Casey told him that, if he doesn't post the receipt as promised, she's rescinding the money she sent him via PayPal.

Good on ya, T!!! And we hope to hear more from you soon!

Busted!

Casey Serin's little media spree this week has had some funny consequences all around. On Monday, for example, his technical (in)abilities were on full display, as C|net readers found, alternately, a "File Not Found" page or even better, a search engine list of related "hater" sites.

I got my own taste of it this morning, when I was woken up by a phone call from an ex, suspiciously chipper considering the ungodly time of day.

"I just read a quote of yours on MSN!" the ex giggled. At any other time, this would not be cause for hilarity. After all, I've given plenty of interviews and been quoted countless times. I could smell the ex had an agenda...I waited through the interminable pause before the one-two punch was delivered.

"Nice fucking mouth on you!"

Aaaargh!!! I knew instantly.... "So I'm reading this article about the world's most hated blogger, on some level fully expecting the article to have something to do with you. After all, you're so precious!" The ex stops to gasp for air through the laughter.

"Then I read this: '"Casey and Galina Serin's story isn't one of 'Young couple tries to make it in the cold, cruel world,' one critic wrote. 'These two are f****g Bonnie and Clyde. What they're doing is bank robbery, without the gun.'" Before I even clicked on the link, I knew it was you who had said that! I shot coffee through my nose!"

So before the ex (who is still a close friend, although skating on thin ice after this morning's call) can crow to our mutual friends that I'm now the girl being shot around the internet for saying "fuck" in international media outlets, I'm going to put the opening shot out there.

I will say that, for as humorous as I find Twelve Years' inclusion in the Casey Serin, World's Most Hated Blogger story, I do cringe a bit about the quote. I say a lot of things in these pages that I wouldn't utter in a more, say, professional environment. And now I'm the chick screaming "fuck" in the media.

I said some semblance of that through the phone this morning, as my coffee-deprived brain waited for the drip to brew and fog to lift. Sensing that a nerve had been struck, the antagonistic ex dialed it down a notch. "Hey, that's cool...you're like Erica Jong this way. She got a lot of attention for taking that word and shining a spotlight on other things. Plus, she was dirty!" the ex leered.

Yeah, I'm the Erica Jong of the blogosphere. Hardly.

Erica Jong's mastery of the English language produced lines and phrases so buttery that readers chewed over her words, letting them melt in their mouths like caramel. As readers rode that happy high, she punctuated her creamy prose with the hard consonants of the word "fuck."

Her writing is as sensual as the topics she covers, as you can see from her poem "We Learned". Jong's writing in the groundbreaking book Fear of Flying produced the indomitable phrase Zipless Fuck, which changed the way American women thought and spoke of sex.

The woman even turned cooking into a food fetish that has never quite been duplicated...although Nigella might come close.

I'm absolutely certain that nothing produced within these pages achieves a similar excitement. Nor as lofty a circumstance. In other words, I don't know that my fuck had a purpose (making it "zipless" in its own right, I suppose.) Certainly, had I known that it would be reprinted for thousands to consume, I would have found more apt language.

I fully expect, over the course of the coming weeks, that as I speak to and go out with friends that, just as I am comfortable, someone will slide a one-liner into the conversation. No one will ask about a recent major coup on the professional front, or the unexpected holiday on powdery white sand beaches and turquoise waters.

No. What they'll say is "So you're the one who basically shouted FUCK in a crowded theatre, huh?"

Yep. (sighs) That's me.